Film Series Confidential

Knowing that the tone of “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” would be different from that of the previous installment (but not really having a clue of how different it would actually be), I found it really amusing when a corpulent and mullet-headed townie and his hausfrau walked into Theater 9 (not Theater 1; that’s where “The Punisher” was playing. Great idea: open a revenge movie with the same audience as “Kill Bill” on the same day as “Kill Bill,” only make it not as good as “Kill Bill.”) pretty drunk, quoting the first movie and kicking at the air while shouting “Hi-ya!” When the movie was over, they seemed a little stunned. It’s a stunning movie. See it.

By the way, were you wondering how you can have some say in what films will be shown in the Film Series? Well, apart from actually being on the Film Board, you can give us suggestions. We do this at the end of every spring semester and, you guessed it, it’s that time of year. So…there are two ways to go about suggesting films. The first is to drop a suggestion, or a list thereof, in one of the suggestion boxes that have just been placed around campus (Campus Center, Cinema, Weshop, Mocon, Summerfields, etc). The second is to e-mail your suggestions to me (mg********@******an.edu). We take your suggestions very seriously. The Film Board will discuss each suggested film, unless we have shown it in the last four years (there’s the rub). And, if you think your suggestion will disappear, just look at Philippe Gosselin. Last year he suggested “The Cockettes,” and, lo and behold, we showed it.

Which brings us to what we’re showing this weekend. Do you like the Coen Brothers? Shit, who doesn’t? Recently, their track record has not been amazing. Which is so sad. Because they have made so many great, nearly perfect films: “The Big Lebowski,” “Barton Fink,” “The Hudsucker Proxy.” So damn good. There’s rarely a semester in the Film Series when we don’t show a Coen Brothers film. This semester, we thought that we’d take it back. Way back. All the way back to their first film (because, again, the last two were nothing to write home about, or about which to write home, for any grammar Nazis keeping score).

“Blood Simple,” is the film, friends. It’s filled to the brim with straight up archetypal crime film conventions, but in that neo-noir fashion at which les frères Coens excel. With this film they brought the art of the triple-cross into the 1980’s and brought MILF and Yale-grad Frances McDormand to the screen for the first time. It’s sometimes a little frightening, sometimes very funny. The Coen Brothers: a class act. I hope that their next movie is good. I pray for fewer jokes about “hippity-hop music,” and more jokes about hula-hoops, iron lungs, and Shabbos.

“Blood Simple.” Friday & Saturday, April 23 & 24, 7:30 & 10 p.m. CFA Cinema. $3.

Simultaneously and for free in the Science Center:

“Okay,” you ask, “Why the hell would they show ‘The Emperor’s New Groove?’” Well that’s a great question. At first glance, it’s another Disney movie. It’s not a musical with songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, nor is it a smart Pixar event. So what then? Something to keep kids’ focus while they get fat on Goobers and thumb sucking? Well, big surprise here, people, because, and I can vouch for this one with 100 percent honesty, but – get ready – “The Emperor’s New Groove,” is amazingly good. It is surprisingly good. It is upsettingly good (because it totally destroys the theory that David Spade is the devil incarnate). Actually, Spade (whose voice stars in the animated tale) is not as annoying as you would think (remember those AT&T commercials where he always dialed on a mimed cell phone and said “Beep-boop-boppy-beep-boppy?”). Also, the voice of Eartha Kitt (Catwoman number two, after Julie Newmar, on the 60s “Batman” TV show) gets much well-deserved screen time. And, the coolest thing about this movie is that originally, Sting wrote a bunch of songs and it was supposed to be a musical, but they cut them all out except for the song that plays over the credits. So Yay! No Sting! Did you see him playing the hurdy-gurdy at the Oscars? Who cares?! That guy can have Tantric sex for like 12 hours at a time! And guess what I just read on IMDB.com? THEY’RE MAKING A SEQUEL! There is a God! Ben Zeitlin will be so happy.

On Saturday is “Knife in the Water,” directed by the Polish powerhouse Roman Polanski. He directed “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown,” “The Pianist,” “Repulsion,” and was the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story. I like this one, his first feature, because it’s Polish title is “Nóz w wodzie.” Say it aloud. Sounds nice, right? This film is an exercise in limitation: crisp black and white photography, three characters, primarily one location. Polanski’s early work is way cool. If you’re interested, check out the short film “Two Men and A Wardrobe,” a personal favorite, or “Cul-de-sac,” one that my Dad loves, because it’s got this Samuel Beckett thing going on.

“The Emperor’s New Groove,” Friday, April 23, 7:30 & 10 p.m., Science Center 150, Free.

“Knife In The Water,” Saturday, April 24, 7:30 & 10 p.m., Science Center 150, Free.

Next Wednesday in the Cinema:

Is “Citizen Kane,” the best film ever made? Nope. But is Orson Welles’ follow-up, “The Magnificent Ambersons,” the best film ever made? Nope. But, regardless, they’re both great, and if you like “Kane,” you owe it to yourself to see more Welles, because he didn’t make many movies, and this is surely one of the best. And, for all you horror film buffs out there, the staircase seen in the picture of “Ambersons” on the Film Series poster, is from the same set seen in the Val Lewton produced classic “Cat People.” Both films were made for R.K.O. Radio Pictures in 1942, and R.K.O. recycled its sets from picture to picture. So, after you see “Ambersons” on Wednesday, go rent “Cat People,” and be the token person who knows all this stuff (you know who you are, Scott Higgins).

Stay tuned next week for my end of the semester edition of Film Series Confidential, in which I’ll fondly look back at a year of great movies, missed opportunities, run-on sentences and snobbery. It’s the time of the season for atonement.